Kansas: Chip Ganassi Racing race report

Dixon Makes it Two in a Row for Team Target with Win at Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (April 27, 2009)-Target Chip Ganassi Racing's
Scott Dixon beat Helio Castroneves to the line by 0.7104 of a second at
Kansas Speedway, vaulting him from 17th to ...

Dixon Makes it Two in a Row for Team Target with Win at Kansas

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (April 27, 2009)-Target Chip Ganassi Racing's
Scott Dixon beat Helio Castroneves to the line by 0.7104 of a second at
Kansas Speedway, vaulting him from 17th to fourth in the IndyCar Series
point standings. Target teammate Dario Franchitti could only complete 151
of the 200 laps after an incident left him in the outside wall, dropping
him out of the points lead to third in the chase for the championship.

Dixon entered the race 17th in points after two difficult races on street
circuits to begin the season. The return to a 1.5-mile oval suited him
well. After starting fourth, Dixon passed pole sitter Graham Rahal on lap
8 and went on to lead 134 of 200 laps for his 17th career IndyCar Series
victory. The win was the third in a row at the track by a Target Chip
Ganassi Racing driver.

Franchitti on the other hand was not as fortunate, having to claw his way
to the front after starting 21st on the grid. It didn't take long
for the Scot to make his way forward, as he was shown in the top-10 by
just lap 15. But getting onto pit lane on lap 151 proved to be an issue
as he had to avoid the No.02 car who stopped abruptly in front him.
Franchitti avoided contact with the No.02, but slid away with two blown
tires which resulted in contact with the outside wall, ending his day.

With the win, Dixon moves to fourth in IndyCar points with 81 points (-19
to leader Kanaan), while Franchitti stands third with 96 points.

TCGR Quoteboard:

Scott Dixon: "I think we were expecting the race to be a lot more
difficult as far as the wind conditions in Turn 3 and 4 and maybe more
cautions. The Target team was definitely talking about a lot of cautions
and making sure we were saving fuel. All-in-all for me it was a pretty
smooth race. We had a great car. We jumped straight to second then
about ten laps later, we got Graham (Rahal) when he slid up the track a
bit in Turn 3 and 4. We got out front and started saving fuel. The Target
car was really good all day. We had a bit of a fumble in the pits, which
dropped us back to third at one point and made it quite difficult to get
past (Ryan) Briscoe. I think we were trimmed to win as they say. The car
was maybe not as good as it should have been in traffic. Luckily enough,
we were saving enough fuel and caught the caution that catapulted us to
the front."

Dario Franchitti: "Graham (Rahal) just stopped in front of me coming into
the pits. That's one of the places you can make up time, coming in
and out (of the pits) and he just braked hard and we were just sort of
feathering the brake. I got on the brakes hard when I saw him just stop,
and flat spotted both fronts, punctured them and had no steering or front
grip after that. It caught me by surprise how early he broke. We were
running sixth gear there and he was hard on the brakes."